Surit snorted, which was close enough to a laugh for Tennal to count it as a success. Under the pretense of reading the notes, Tennal shifted himself over to sit on the storage chest jammed by Surit’s bed, half an arm’s length away. He kept one eye on Surit’s reaction. Surit didn’t tense, just sipped the eyebrow-scorching spirits and stared contemplatively at his notes. Tennal leaned back against the wall, letting his uniform crumple, and stretched his legs out. He’d meant to say something likeable and non-assholish, but his mind was blank. It was oddly not awkward. A placid silence emanated from Surit like a field of static. Tennal watched his hands as he made more notes.

It felt like a bubble of safety: a tiny, private room in a station packed full of soldiers they had fooled, floating in the vastness of space. When Surit finished his drink, he gave a long, heavy sigh, sat on his bed, and laid out a light-screen like a table, floating horizontally between them. “I found the refueling schedule.”

“Fascinating,” Tennal said lazily. “Why did you think I’d be interested in this?”

Surit gave the ghost of a smile. “I thought you’d want to know the first place the fleet will stop after we leave chaotic space. It’s the first chance you’ll have to leave.”

Tennal sat up and gave the light-screen a closer look. It named a station, one of the midspace posts that meant refueling ships didn’t have to enter planetary orbit. There might be commercial transports docking there. “Where is this?”

“About three days from when we come back out,” Surit said, “providing chaotic space lets us leave in roughly the same place we came in.” Tennal took from his tone that this wasn’t a given. “It’s right on the border with Archer territory. There’ll be a constant flow of traffic to Archer Link Station.”

The words Archer Link Station were jarring. Tennal had vaguely assumed he’d hop from station to station before he eventually managed to disappear somewhere in the megacities of Orshan Two or the sprawling farmland of Orshan Three. But Surit had clearly thought about it more than him: that was a risk. As long as Tennal was in Orshan space, the army could eventually track him down. If he made it to the wider universe, though, they stood no chance of finding him. “You think I should try and get out-system,” he said flatly. “Through the link.”

“Yes,” Surit said. Tennal saw that even getting this far was costing him. Surit had probably never thought about how to outwit the army in his life. “It might be easier to fake some temporary documents to take you through the link. Something permanent for our own sector would be harder. And you can’t stay here.”